ROME, November 6. /TASS/. The European Union’s response to the torture chambers in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka near Kiev shows the discrepancy between statements about human rights from Brussels and the actual practice of upholding them, Alex Marsaglia, a columnist with L'Antidiplomatico, noted.
"We have witnessed decades of European freedom values proclaimed from the glass palaces in Brussels and Strasbourg in camps for those dodging conscription and daily kidnappings of `free’ citizens, of which thousands take place on the streets of Ukraine," he wrote.
The EU has chosen not only to turn a blind eye to the secret prisons in Ukraine but also to try to "blemish" Kiev by releasing bogus reports in the media to divert public attention from the problem. "We look forward to a statement from the chairman of the European Human Rights Court about the developments in Ukraine, a Council of Europe member who is obliged to abide by the Convention [on human rights and essential freedoms]. But perhaps I am asking too much of our `friends’," he concluded.
On November 2, Ukrainian media reported that armed men were holding around 40 people in the basement of a private house in a community near Kiev. An ambulance arrived at the scene, but armed men guarding the building refused to let the medical personnel inside. Clashes broke out outside the house, and local residents trying to force open the gate faced tear gas. Medics were allowed to take four people with signs of beatings to hospital only after the incident drew widespread attention in the media and on social media.
Police later said that the house was being used by Ukrainian National Guard servicemen. National Guard Commander Alexander Pivnenko said that the four injured men were servicemen who had left their unit without authorization. He described the house as a "temporary deployment site" and acknowledged that mobilized men were also being held there.